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Please Help Me Identify These Snails!

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Hey fellow Snail Guardians!

Please pardon the long post – several strange things have happened in my tank and I figure that explaining them might help in the identification of my new tank-mates.

About a year ago, I decided to add some friends to my 10gal tank (heavily planted) that was only inhabited by my beloved mystery, Diva. I added another mystery, Rose, and 4 ghost shrimp (all named Oui). They all lived in harmony together for about 8 months, and then, about 3 months ago, I decided to add one more to the mix, Beatrice, another “mystery” snail (emphasis the quotation marks). Beatrice was really small (smaller than a dime) when I put her in with my other two snails and 4 shrimp. However, in this short amount of time, she has grown to at least the size of a baseball.

So, I might or might not have accidentally purchased a cana, disguised as a “mystery snail” from my local aquatic store (this is super illegal in Texas…so, you get the idea). I figured out that she (might…) be a cana when I woke up one morning (about 2 months ago) to find her on top of one of my other beloved mystery snails, Diva, and not in a good way. Beatrice was throwing her against the glass and it looked like they had been in this violent struggle for a while (she rode around on Diva a lot, but she was never violent towards her). Then, all of a sudden, Beatrice was literally twisting Diva’s shell off. I tried to stop it, but she would not let go. I did not want to cause extra damage to either of them, so I stopped trying to intervene – and within less than a minute, Beatrice had literally twisted Diva’s shell completely off. (RIP Diva). Then, once I was able to compose myself, I noticed that all (4) of my ghost shrimp were dead – they were either completely gone or missing large sections of their bodies.

This was horrible and beyond traumatic. However, I do love Beatrice and I knew that she was just acting in her nature, and I want to provide the best for her. So, I purchased a 5 gallon tank and put my surviving mystery, Rose, in the 5gal and kept Beatrice in a 10gal all by herself. Again, these tanks are heavily planted, heated, bio-filters, bubbles, etc.

Here is where the even weirder part comes in (at least for me). About a month ago ,(Beatrice had been on her own for about 5 weeks) 2-4 of these these cute teenytiny baby snails appeared. I figured that they were pest snails and would go away because I have seen Beatrice literally crush pest snails on multiple occasions. However, not only are these snails still around, the original babies have grown to about the size of a penny (or larger) and they are multiplying like crazy. Now that the originals are big enough to investigate, I know that they are not your average-run-of-the-mill pesky snails that we acquire from aquatic plants.

They are extremely interesting looking, do not have trap doors, and can literally walk (glide?) across the surface of the water while upside down. Even more astounding is that Beatrice has not killed them. She lets the big ones ride around on her back and everything. These guys are getting bigger by the minute and I have noooo idea what they are. They look like Ramshorns to me – but how in the world could I have ended up with them? I literally have not added anything new to her tank in over a year.

Sorry about the long post about Beatrice and her murderous history – I just wanted to make it clear that she has killed everything in her path, but not these new snails. I figure that must be important to the identification of her new tank mates.

I have posted some pictures of the largest ones (again, their shells are about the size of a penny). Can anyone help me identify these new snails?

The specks in picture #2 suggest to me it might be a bladder snail of some kind. On the other hand, the most common, Physella acuta, doesn't get all that big. Young Pomacea canaliculata or "cana" are sometimes reported as having specks.